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U.S. Interior Secretary defends halt on Revolution Wind project

The New London State Pier.
Molly Ingram
/
WSHU
The New London State Pier.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (R) defends the Trump administration’s decision to issue a stop-work order to Revolution Wind.

The offshore wind farm was expected to power hundreds of thousands of homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island beginning next year. The project was 80% done, according to Ørsted.

Burgum told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that they issued the stop-work order because of national security concerns.

“There are concerns about radar relative to undersea, and it doesn't have to be a large Russian sub, but undersea drones, the new technology,” Burgum said. “...People with, you know, bad ulterior motives to the United States would launch a swarm drone attack through a wind farm. The radar gets very distorted around detecting, if you're trying to have, you know, detect and avoid if you've got drones coming.”

The U.S. Department of Defense reviewed the project in 2023 and found national security was not a concern.

Burgum also claimed the project received preferential treatment and called it a “massive tax scheme.”

“There's evidence that not a full review was completed under the Biden administration, there was over 3.5 million acres of offshore land that was pre-approved by the Biden administration for these wind towers,” Burgum said.

The decision to issue the stop-work order has been met with outcry from Connecticut officials.

“We are working closely with Rhode Island to save this project because it represents exactly the kind of investment that reduces energy costs, strengthens regional production, and builds a more secure energy future – the very goals President Trump claims to support but undermines with this decision,” Governor Ned Lamont (D) said.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said the decision was purely political.

“The project was fully permitted and almost done, but [Trump’s] oil industry backers don’t want it,” Murphy said.

Molly Ingram is WSHU's Government and Civics reporter, covering Connecticut. She also produces Long Story Short, a podcast exploring public policy issues across the state.